Bye Bye Death Penalty

I'm Canadian also, and I do agree that if the person is 100% guilty, some people are just evil and deserve to die. For example, there's a murder trial going on in London, ON right now of a man who sexually assaulted and killed a little girl. The most he'll get is 25 years (that's the harshest penalty in Canada), probably eligible for parole after half of that. THAT is sad.

I don't know about Canadian prisons but the first people shanked in the yard in US prisons are people who do things to kids.

This is true. Rapists and child killers won't last long in prison.

This will probably be an unpopular opinion - but it amazes me that there are any states in the US that still have the death penalty. It seems medieval to me.

(From Britain)

I think it's when I hear of these horrible crimes and I picture how these people were killed, so brutally and many times for no "reason", (I use that term loosely), I just don't feel they have the right to breath the air that they so quickly and horrifically took from another human being.

Amen!

I cannot believe some people here are for the death penalty ! You are nobody in order to decide a price to put on the life of someone else! Moreover, the states with death penalty don't have a lower crime rate. I bet you guys didn't know about this. Also, people who get the death penalty will spend sometimes up to 10 years in the death row.
This is not an example to criminals: "don't kill or else you will get executed"!!
I cannot believe some of you here still have conservative thoughts about this barbar procedure!!!

In theory, I support the death penalty. But in my opinion, it is not delivered in a just way in the US. I think race and the differences in culture have historically played too much of a role in determining those who are given the death penalty and those who are sentenced to life imprisonment (whether this is conscious or not of those on the jury).

Really...



Put all the really yucky people on a deserted island... and let them take care of each other.

They did...it's called Texas zzzziiinngg! I keed, I keed.

Im 100% for the Death Penalty in cases that are 100 % proven by witnesses and evidence. Especially crimes against children. The only other alternative is to deport them to Irac or afganistan. HAHA

This thread depresses me. Whether or not you believe the death penalty is moral, there are way too many people willing to bypass the justice system and say they'd do it themselves.

Not only does that probably make you among the 10% of the human population that would gladly inflict pain on others without blinking, but it's so un-American. A huge point of democracy is that punishments aren't arbitraily doled out by individuals or those in power. If you want that, go live in an authoritarian state, and pray you don't do anything that would garner someone's wrath.

My parents are in their 60's. My dad is on dialysis - his kidneys are dead, he has a pacemaker, he can barely walk. My mom is only 4'11". A few weeks ago they were robbed in their home at gunpoint by three young kids - my dad apparently can't sit in the garage with the door open late at night and read without his life being put in jeopardy - in a quiet - mostly senior - neighborhood in Myrtle Beach. My mom always said that guns have no place in the house. She has since changed her mind. She will put a bullet into someone if she has to protect her own life and her home. And I don't blame her.

My man went out of town for a week and a half. He made sure I knew how to use the shotgun and that gun sat by me the entire time he was gone. I also had two knives closeby too. I will protect my life and my property.

I'm 100% for the death penalty.
I live in CT now and I don't think it should be taken away.

There are some people who just deserve to die - serial murders, serial rapists, etc that can not and will not change with time in prison.
However, (I may be wrong on this point, please correct me if I am), it is rather expensive to have someone on death row vs life in prison... SO from a financial POV, no death penalty might be the way...

I live in CT as well. i'm just amazed they actually took it away. especially after the trials we've had recently.

i do think that some people should receive the death penalty based on the level of their crime.

my opinion is that if we were all allowed to carry our own weapons with out the government putting such strict laws on how we are allowed to defend ourselves then there would be a lot less violent crimes. However, this would probably cause a huge increase in deaths too but, do you think someone is gonna try to rape a young girl if they aren't really sure if she has a gun and knows how to use it??? Maybe they will still try and maybe she will kill the POS before he has a chance to...problem solved...and YES, I would shoot the POS if it were me. I wouldn't hesitate in the least bit.
Aso, if our legal system wasn't so twisted up these jerks would never get a chance to be back out on the streets.
For the person that said it cost more to follow through with the death penalty then to keep them in prison....not sure that makes sense.
A one time deal to kill them but year after year of crowded prisons, feeding the criminal, allowing him to appeal, suppliying them with a lawyer, oh and the best part.....access to fitness equipment and furthering their education.....WTH, a scumbag gets better care then 90% of the American populatin because he is in prison.
Forget the death penalty let's get back to hardcore manual labor and chaingangs...chain 'em up and work them to death.

About 4 years ago there was a dramatic increase in conceal carry permits. In the majority of the states that allow conceal carry and have less stict gun laws, violent crime has gone down while states/cities with strict gun laws have seen an increase in violent crime. DC, New York and California have the most strict gun laws and the highest % increase in violent crime according to DOJ data.

Yes, but the extremely strict rules on the conceal carry permit make it virtually unusable...at least in our state. You basically have the right to conceal your weapon while walking aroud your own yard...other then that you can't have it any public place therefore making it pointless to have a conceal carry permit. As an American we ALL have the right to bear arms and can in fact have a gun holstered on our hip at all times as long as it is visible BUT businesses also have the right to not alow you into their establishment soooo you leave your gun in the car and get mugged on your way from the parking lot to the building. It's all a bunch of legal BS that makes it almost impossible to actually carry a concealed weapon. PLUS there is an annual renewal fee for the permit as well as a fee to run your stuff through the local sheriff's dept.....all of this is required each year to renew your permit(in my state anyway). So it's really is a waste of time and money to get a conceal carry permit when I can legaly have my gun on the seat of my car out in plain site. Another thing is look at all the crap you have to go through to get a conceal carry permit yet I walked in the gun shop and in under 30 min. I was in the car with my brand new handgun after never owning a gun in my life.....how hard do you think it is for a criminal to get a weapon but in order to be a "law abiding" citizen" they make you jump through hoops and charge you money every shance they can for doing the responsible thing...again, more BS laws to "protect" people but if we al walked around with a gun on our hip I bet there would be a lot less chances of someone trying to mess with you.

Don't get me wrong, I agree that there shouldbe some regulations to gun ownership but are tey really working??? I was shocked at how easy it was to buy a gun(granted I do't hae a criminal bacground, of course, so my background check went right through) but don't forget that just because that gun is in my name doesn't mean that someone else can't pick it up and use it. OR just because I have a clean record doesn't mean that I didn't buy it with the intent to pass it off to some thug with a bad record( let me be clear here, that is NOT at all what I did)..I'm just saying it is super easy to get a gun even with the most strict of gun laws and your average American is going to follo the law but it really does nothing to actually protect you in the case of a coneal carry permit....just another way to charge you maoney and make you FEEL like yu have some power over your own life but really the gov't STiLL contols your gun very tightly.

The death penalty is barbaric. A self-styled beacon of freedom to still condone state-sponsored killing is hypocritical at best. Too many innocent people have been on death row, and all states in the US should abolish the death penalty. To argue that the people committing crimes punishable by death have lost the right to live in society is a fundamentally flawed one. No one has the right to decide when another should die, whether it be the individual or the government.

I live in Canada, where our death penalty has thankfully been abolished for many years. I'm going to share my personal perspective on this broad issue: a long time ago, my baby cousin was murdered, and my aunt was falsely accused and charged. Over a decade later, her real killer was finally charged and sentenced - aside from pretrial custody, he served 2 years in a federal penitentiary as he was a youth at the time of the sexual assault and killing (we have young offender laws here protecting youth). 2 years. People can serve more time here for drug or theft offenses than that. Make no mistake, he was far from a youth by the time he was charged and sentenced. He was a 25 year old man by this point who had been covering his crime and fuelling suspicion of the falsely accused for over a decade, while expressing zero remorse.

About a month ago, I ran into my aunt. I had been thinking about the death penalty in an unrelated context, and as she studies law now, I asked her for her thoughts: whether as both the direct victim of a killer, and as someone falsely accused of killing her daughter, if she thought the death penalty would have been fitting of his crimes and if our laws should be tougher. Simply recounted, she said no. I agree with her.

Not only does it actually cost more to house a death row inmate than an inmate for life, but no one decides when someone should die. Someone breaking that base human code does not entitle the state to also break that base human code.

We all should have learned it by kindergarten: two wrongs don't make a right. It works for big stuff too.

And how about the argument that keeping extremely violent offenders imprisoned for life poses a direct and immediate threat to other inmates jailed alongside them?? If there's no greater punishment over life without possibility, you become untouchable, and can do, frankly, whatever you want.

This will probably be an unpopular opinion - but it amazes me that there are any states in the US that still have the death penalty. It seems medieval to me.

(From Britain)

I agree with you. The death penalty is counterintuitive (and not at all a deterent - something that any "punishment" should be). Killing someone for killing (or whatever) someone else is just silly. It's not okay for YOU to do it to others, but we'll go ahead and do it to you. Illogical. Mr. Spock and Dr. Sheldon Cooper would be with me on this one.

Unfortunately, keeping all these criminals locked up for their entire lives is becoming very, very expensive. So, I don't have the answer. I just do not believe we have the right to end another life for any reason other than necessary self-defense (the real kind - not the Zimmerman kind).

You referenced Spock and Sheldon in your argument-- too funny

So how does the state compensate someone who was executed then found to be not guilty later ? Factual speaking this happened dozens of times in the 20th century. It's easy to say only execute people who are 100% guilty but we live in a society of due process, are u sayin execute people who confess. Google the west Memphis 3 and see about so called confessions.

The death penalty is overwhelming given to poor minority people. Despite what Fox news and the other right wing fascists say in this country poor black men aren't the only people who commit murder. Is the OP life worth more than mine? Cause God forbid her or an other blonde white woman is a victim in my county the DA in my state (NC) couldn't charge capital murder fast enough.


And I'm not even going to go into what Jesus says.............

Oh, no, please. Go into what Jesus says. You've been so enlightening already.

This thread depresses me. Whether or not you believe the death penalty is moral, there are way too many people willing to bypass the justice system and say they'd do it themselves.

Not only does that probably make you among the 10% of the human population that would gladly inflict pain on others without blinking, but it's so un-American. A huge point of democracy is that punishments aren't arbitraily doled out by individuals or those in power. If you want that, go live in an authoritarian state, and pray you don't do anything that would garner someone's wrath.

My parents are in their 60's. My dad is on dialysis - his kidneys are dead, he has a pacemaker, he can barely walk. My mom is only 4'11". A few weeks ago they were robbed in their home at gunpoint by three young kids - my dad apparently can't sit in the garage with the door open late at night and read without his life being put in jeopardy - in a quiet - mostly senior - neighborhood in Myrtle Beach. My mom always said that guns have no place in the house. She has since changed her mind. She will put a bullet into someone if she has to protect her own life and her home. And I don't blame her.

My man went out of town for a week and a half. He made sure I knew how to use the shotgun and that gun sat by me the entire time he was gone. I also had two knives closeby too. I will protect my life and my property.

I didn't say that people don't have the right to protect themselves. I can shoot straighter than most police I've seen at the range I frequent.

What I do mean is the sentiment I've read that "save the money of a trial, of the appeals, and take him out back and put a 9mm between his eyes." That arbritary-ness is scary.

I must have missed the post about arbitrary executions? There still HAS to be a trial, and appeal IMO, but once those are exhausted, the execution is a viable punishment and should be carried out.

Now that being said, you break into my home, all bets are off, you are an intruder and I'll put a 12ga slug in your chest. I'll give you one chance to retreat and after that it's time to protect my family.

Look, this is how I'd run it:

You commit murder (or other horrible crime) and are put on trial. You are convicted and sentenced to death.
You now have 3 appeals available to you, that should be carried out and tried in no more than 5 years.
You loose all your appeals in court.
You are taken to a chamber behind the courthouse and an executioner blindfolds you and and then placed the barrel of a .45 to the back of your skull. 1 shot and it's over. Justice served.

This is closure for those that are victims.

I had stated previously that I was for closing loopholes, but why the push for doing it behind the courthouse? Those 5 years are what costs real money, not the piddance of the gas to get back to the jail, or the time for the accused's loved ones to say goodbye and find their own closure.

And to your question, if I had a family member tied up in this system, it would be hard, it would be an emotional roller coaster, but if they are convicted and executed, I would stand by that ruling. Legislating to the minority of people that may be innocent is a sure fire way for the whole system to unravel.

A) I'm not sure I can believe you here (nothing to do with you personally) but how could you possibly stand beside when you believe a loved one is being executed unjustly?
Some pretty smart people disagree with you. They wrote the U.S. constitution.

And how about the argument that keeping extremely violent offenders imprisoned for life poses a direct and immediate threat to other inmates jailed alongside them?? If there's no greater punishment over life without possibility, you become untouchable, and can do, frankly, whatever you want.

With respect, that argument is flawed in many ways. I'm not going to pretend to understand the US prison system, but I understand Canada's to a limited extent. First off, extremely violent offenders (we call them dangerous offenders who can be jailed indefinitely) are housed in separate prisons entirely with specific systems to keep them from killing everything in sight. Second, not all killers are by necessity "extremely violent". Third, many extremely violent people do not commit murder, commit other crimes and are jailed for them, yet seem to manage not to kill their cellmates. I have more, but I'm going to stop there because I think I've made my point that this is complex and there are systems in prisons to keep inmates from killing other inmates.

I interpret your untouchable argument to mean that already jailed for life inmates would kill other inmates because there was no greater punishment. That's really straying from the issue itself and mixing contexts, so I'm not going to respond to that point as I don't think the sub-society within a prison is the concern here, we're looking at society at large.